“Why We Did It:”    IP Phone System Cuts Costs
“We’re now saving over $500 every month because of our IP phone system, and within 2 years we’ll be saving over $1000 a month,” says Jason Templeton, a licensed practical nurse and the office manager for a two-physician medical practice.
“We got an IP phone system because when the economy tightened, we had to reduce our overhead,” he says.
He produced the cost savings by converting the business’s hosted PBX phone system to an on-site Cisco IP Phone system that uses a broadband cable service to connect voice traffic to the telephone network.
A Business Network? Now’s the Time
The new IP phone system—the Cisco Smart Business Communications System (SBCS) —does more for the 18-employee business than conserve cash.
“The system has a built-in high-tech network firewall so now our data is protected,” Templeton says. “And it has definitely improved our office’s workflow, making everyone more efficient.”
Prior to the Cisco system, the office had no business network; it had just a few PCs running the practice’s management and billing software.
Templeton’s communications innovation began in 2008, when he was enticed by a price promotion from the local cable company. “They offered Internet and TV service, and eight digital phone lines, for $386 a month. That’s about one fourth of what we were paying for the hosted service,” he says. To take advantage of the deal, he began shopping for an IP phone system (an Internet-based system).
“I met with several vendors, and one of them was Craig Ray,” he says. Craig is the owner at ProTech Networks, a Cisco Select Certified Partner (a reseller that specializes in serving small businesses). Its clients have operations across the U.S..
“We brought in a Cisco SBCS to demo,” Craig says. “Jason and the staff got to hold the phones in their hands, to experience their quality. They saw for themselves how easy the system is to use, and how powerful it is.
“All in one box, it gives most small businesses everything they need.”
“I had told Craig we required a simple system that would be a long-term investment, not anything we’d be replacing anytime soon,” says Templeton. “We needed an auto-attendant and voicemail that’s easy to use. And it had to be reliable and come with responsive service.
“We got everything we asked for.”
Lower Cost, Better Technology and Service
The office’s Cisco SBCS solution includes a unified communications platform for 24 users, a switch, and 20 flagship Cisco IP Phones.
The office pays less than $600 a month to lease the solution from Cisco Capital and have ProTech Networks remotely manage it; the office will own the solution after 36 payments.
“The boss is very happy,” says Jason. “We’re saving money every month. Plus, we get more advanced technology, and better service.
“ProTech Networks responds immediately remotely, or comes onsite in just a few hours. Our old telecom vendor took 24 or 48 hours, if we were lucky.”
Simple Means More Productive
“The phone features are easy for all of us to use—no one has any complaints. We are a very busy practice, and the phones make us much more efficient.
“The time savings we get from this system have improved our level of care, and our ability to serve new patients,” he says. “We’re now seeing about 100 patients a day.”
Templeton says specific improvements include the following:
• Now every call is picked up within three rings, by staff or the auto-attendant.
• When patients or pharmacists call with an inquiry, they no longer wait on hold, and staff is not interrupted. The auto-attendant routes the call, and staff can respond in a timely way.
• With their own voicemail boxes, the medical professionals no longer work from cryptic written phone messages. “The accuracy is much higher, so we do our jobs better and faster,” he says.
“Our productivity and patient care are up, and our overhead costs are down. We are conserving cash. This was an excellent investment for us,” says Jason.